Aftermath
by youremylucifer
Summary: Takes place after Sting and Rouge's defeat from Natsu in the two versus two match. Sting is confused a lot and Natsu isn't sure why. Rouge seems to have an idea but Sting won't believe him. Canon/Slightly changed, no Eclipse plan. Sting/Natsu, boy/boy. Might be OOC
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I am not a writer, so this is my poor attempt at romance. Expect a lot of cliches because I don't know what I'm doing. Enjoy! UwU

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The crowds roaring cheers of excitement and anger filled my ears so that it was all I could hear besides the blood pulsing through my veins. I kept thinking to myself how I let us lose like that. How I let Lector down, and how much of a disappointment I must be to Natsu-san. I would have never thought that he was this strong by his appearance, he looked much younger then I imagined him to. I had heard stories about his adventures and his habits of destroying everything he touches, but I had never seen a picture of him, only vague descriptions of his appearance.

I looked over at Rouge a few feet away from me and I could see he was thinking similar thoughts.

"The victor of the two versus two match between Sabertooth and Fairy Tail is," a brief pause from the announcer, "Fairy Tail!"

Once he said those words my defeat sunk in more than I expected it to. My thoughts went from Natsu-san to Jiemma, and what he would do to Rouge and I. He had given me one last chance after I forfeited the Chariot event and I had blown it.

I looked up expecting to see Natsu-san gone, but he was still down here amongst the rubble and debris. Why is he still down here with a bunch of losers like us? Shouldn't he be up with Titania and the ice boy? A sigh escaped my lips as I tried to sit up, but the bruising I had just received kept me from fully sitting up.

The crowds cheering had started to settle down and Natsu-san was still down here. Seriously, why is he down here? It's kinda pissing me off now, does he intend to rub it in our faces off camera so the crowd can't see our broken faces crumble even more with taunting words? Or maybe he'll finish us off for good, yeah, I would too if I was him. A bunch of screw-ups like us shouldn't even be alive after fighting someone like him. Disgusting. Barely a challenge for the other Dragon Slayer, Gajeel was even removed from the match so it wasn't like he had help!

He glanced over to us as the lacrima screens buzzed off. So this is it, huh? I don't want to die, I'm starting to panic, my breathings getting heavier and I can feel the sweat dripping off my chin. I still can't move, I can't even try to resist if he tries to make a move.

He started walking towards me now, my breathing is getting shallower and is coming out in uneven pants. I leaned up enough to get into a sitting position and my body heaved from the slight exertion. I closed my eyes tight in preparation for whatever was to come next.

"The hell is wrong with you? I'm not gonna hurt you or anything," he says as he crouches in front of me and Rouge. My eyes snapped open at this and I looked at him in a confused glance. Rouge is just as confused as me, obviously not showing it as much but I can tell he's freaking out on the inside.

A laugh, "What? Cat got your tongue or something?" the pink haired Dragon Slayer asks with a grin. The look on my face spoke more words then I could try to stutter out, "I said I wasn't gonna hurt you. So, are you guys alright at least?"

Still not able to for a coherent sentence I nodded dumbly at his question. Is he playing with us or his he really that dumb to ask an opponent if they're okay. If the latter is the case this guys a lot dumber than I thought he was.

The male sighs and closes his eyes, and when he opens them he plops down onto the ground directly in front of me. A bit of dust came up from his dramatic gesture and made me cough slightly. What the hell is this guy doing? I didn't realize I closed my eyes when I coughed until I opened them and looked up at him and saw the craziest looking grin I've seen. It almost made me freeze in place with how bright it was.

The grin is almost all teeth, his eyes are closed from the force of it. What is he smiling about? I just got my ass kicked and he's smiling about it, kind of a douchey move there if you ask me.

"What the hell is up with that dumb look on your face?" I mumble out and he stops smiling and I almost regretted saying that.

"Geez! I was trying to be nice," he hisses out at me, "You wouldn't know kindness if it bit you in the ass."

I let out a snarl at his last comment until the beginning really sunk in, "Wait a second, nice? Why are you trying to be nice to someone you're enemies with and just beat the crap out of?" I growl out much harsher then I meant to, and his face morphs into a surprised look.

"Why would you think that we're enemies?" he questions, looking genuinely confused.

This just makes me confused, "Why wouldn't we be enemies? Uh, Minerva hurt your friend Lucy right! I laughed the whole time she did it," I paused, "Does that not register in your head? I laughed for a damn reason," I then gave a small glare to him.

He looked taken aback by my outburst. Rouge doesn't seem to be making a move to say or do anything. It's probably a good idea too, I was fuming.

"Tch," Natsu-san turns his head and mumbles, "I was right about the whole kindness thing, geez," my eye twitches, "I figured you guys were a bit different than the others in your guild, and I thought that maybe we could be friends," he shrugs, "Guess I was wrong".

My angered expression turns into one of shock as I just stared at him. Friends? Natsu-san wants to be friends with us. This has to be a joke or something, there is no way that he's this dumb. Don't get me wrong being friends with my childhood idol is a dream of mine. I never, and won't tell anyone this, especially the pink haired male.

"You're," I chuckle, "You're joking right? You can't possibly be serious about this!" I throw my hands up and almost hit the other in my outburst.

"Well, I was being serious you prick!" the other spat out and crossed his arms over his unsalvageable jacket and childishly puffed out his cheeks.

I would have never thought he was this childish, maybe oblivious but never childish. It's kinda funny thinking I used to look up to a guy like this.

I stay quiet for a while more as I think back to Lector, and how I broke our promise. I've got to be the worst friend there is, and here Natsu-san is wanting to be mine! I don't think I could do that to someone like him, he has so much more than I do and I can't let him do that to himself. Get him into a mess he can't clean up.

"Y'know you can't beat yourself up like this," my eyes are wide as I look him in the eyes, "I may now know what you're going through but I could probably bet it was something about losing today".

He seemed so calm about this, and that just made my anger rise. Was he pitying me now? I never thought he would steep so low, "What do you know about my problems! Stay out of my business," I shout, even though he was right I couldn't let him know that.

"Hey, hey! Cool it! I'm just trying to say whatever I did, I'm sorry," the Fairy Tail mage said quietly, weighed down with guilt, "I don't like making people upset, it makes it less likely that I'll be friends with them and I feel like I need to be friends with you guys, I dunno why, you two are just different, so sorry again".

I was at a loss for words again, I don't know what to say to that, or where to begin. Should I accept his apology, which he really didn't need to do, or just ignore him like before? Keep being an asshole to him like before the games and keep the upper hand. That didn't sound quite right though.

Natsu-san started to stand up after me and Rouge had been so quiet, I look over at Rouge and he's staring down at the ground. I look back to the now standing Dragon Slayer and see an unreadable expression on his face. Did I... Hurt his feelings or something? Shit.

As I was ab0ut to try and stop him from leaving and try and say something to him to apologize I see a hand in front of my face. I blinked and looked up to see his dumb smile back on his face and offering to help me up. Even after my outburst he's still willing to help me, he must be more childish then I thought.

I grabbed his hand and pulled myself up and stumbled slightly when I regained my footing. I look slightly down to thank him only to still see his smile in place, and I unconsciously let out a small smile of my own. I didn't really notice how much shorter he was then me, weird.

"Oh, uhh, thanks for helping me up, I mean, ah," I stumbled over my words as I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. Am I sick or something, what the hells wrong with me, snap out of it dumbass.

"No problem," the grin on his face fell and a more serious look replaced it, "If anything happens at Sabertooth tonight, you, Rouge and your Exceeds can come to Fairy Tail, alright?"

My eyes widened for what seemed to be the twentieth time that day. Rouge and I at Fairy Tail of all places? That sounds like one of those jokes a drunk tells at the local pub. I quickly looked over to Rouge to see if he had heard the invitation, and his one visible eye and slightly agape mouth said that he had. Guess I wasn't hearing things then.

"A-Are you being serious right now? Would Fairy Tail even welcome people like us there if we showed up," Rouge finally spoke up.

"Eh? Oh, yeah of course they would! It might be a little awkward at first but I'm sure you'll be fine," a hand on his chin was the only sign of hesitation, "We've had worse people welcomed at Fairy Tail and they even ended up joining! You'll be fine".

I see his smile come back and I had to fight myself from smiling back at him. Alright, seriously what the hell is wrong with me, this is getting annoying. Wait he said worse people then us were welcomed at Fairy Tail.

"Who would be-" I was cut off by a roar through the stadium.

"Salamander!" the former lost Iron Dragon Slayer shouted. I guess I had forgotten about Gajeel-san.

"Speaking of worse people," the pink haired male mumbled out in a cocky tone.

So Gajeel-san was the worst person he was talking about? I guess I'll have to ask him about that later. Whoa, who said there was even going to be a later, geez I must be losing it. A sigh escaped my lips.

The long haired Dragon Slayer was starting to run towards Natsu-san, don't tell me they're gonna fight. I don't think this arena can handle much more destruction. I looked around me to see the collateral damage. Everything seemed to be crumbling around us. I looked back to where the fire mage previously was only to see him sending and receiving punches and kicks with Gajeel-san, "Are they crazy or something," I deadpanned.

As I watched the match between the two go on, they began using magic, and more and more of the stadium was collapsing. I started to get a little nervous at this. I wonder if someone will stop them, because there is no way in hell I'm going over there and getting in-between that. I've gotten enough punches to the face today, thanks.

"You childish boys!" A feminine voice shouts from the gaping hole in the stadium. Long red hair flowed from behind her as she jumped down into the large hole where we all resided. The two Dragon Slayers stood frozen in their tracks as they stared at her. She must hold a lot of authority in the guild, not that I blame her after the woman practically annihilated Pandemonium.

"How many times have I told you boys no fighting!" her voice echoed loudly through the stadium, "Especially you Natsu! I've told you over and over to cut it out and you have yet to listen to me".

So I guess them fighting it normal then...

Erza slowly made her way to separate them and said, "Gajeel, head up to the infirmary, Natsu," her voice trailed lowly, "Are you some sort of idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed by pulling a stunt like that! Your recklessness still amazes me".

Her body language led me to believe that she was going to hit him, but instead she quickly moved and hugged him tightly against her armor, "The guild wouldn't be the same without you pulling stunts like that though," she said quietly and I had to strain my ears to hear it.

Looking at the heartwarming scene made my chest tighten weirdly. I felt myself getting worked up, not sure why. It's almost like I'm jealous or something, it's not like I'm crushing on Natsu-san or something.

Oh, who am I fooling, I am.

Shit.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, let's not jump to any conclusions yet there Sting. We don't even have any proof that you like Natsu-san. It could be just some weird phase of admiration. So what if I get a little flustered around the guy or, stutter a little bit. People always do that with people they admire. There, case solved.

I look over to the scene in front of me again. Erza had let Natsu-san go and I let out a sigh.

Obviously one of exhaustion, not relief.

They're heading over here now, crap, what do I do? I've just been standing here watching them hug the whole time like some creep. Good going Sting you're going to make it far in life for sure. I really should have just left and went for a walk or to the infirmary, anywhere really. I look over to see what Rouge was doing, and he's gone. Great, wonder when he made his leave, sneaky bastard.

I turn my head to face forwards again and the two Fairy Tail mages were right in front of me. A hand was waving in my face, "Hey, Sting! You in there?" the pink haired male questions.

"Oh, uh yeah sorry about that, I kinda zoned out there for a second," I responded. I can't believe I made a reasonable answer that quickly. I knew it was only admiration.

Natsu-san smiled at that, "Alright, do you need help back up to the main arena? You haven't made a move to leave yet," he trailed off.

"Yeah, I'll be fine I think. Just kinda sore is all, nothing serious,"

The male hummed in response, "If you say so. Remember what I told you, 'kay? Erza's cool with it too," the scarlet haired female nodded curtly at this.

Ahh, how could I forget about that bombshell of an invitation? Of course, I remembered it. So if the sword wielding mage is fine with it then I should be fine. I swear these Fairies are too nice.

"Yeah, yeah I got it. If anything big goes down I'll drop by with Rouge. If the sneaky bastard even wants to," I look away as my face feels flustered. This is too embarrassing.

The two nod and turn to head up to the top of the arena, and I follow a few feet behind them. I don't want to be seen as an attachment. Which I'm not, trust me, don't be ridiculous. Tch.

As I get to the top of the arena I can feel the piercing glares from the Sabertooth side of the structure. I'll just ignore them for now, go focus on heading to the infirmary and get patched up, and then continue to ignore my guild mates.

I am such a genius.

I practically had to swim through the aura of death threats mixed with a hint of disappointment to get to the wide selection of hallways.

Speaking of disappointment, I had to talk to Lector still. Wonder what I'll come up with whilst talking to him. Hope it isn't as gag worthy as my attempts at talking to Natsu-san.

Before I know it I'm in front of the infirmary door. I can hear loud voices, probably an argument. Maybe I can just slip in and get patched up and be on my not-so-merry way like nothing happened. I open the door to see Natsu-san arguing with Gajeel-san, and the fire mage is patching up the other?

"That hurts you idiot!"

"Well, it's supposed to! Shut up you wimp!"

"Don't tell me what to do you asshole!"

I stand in the doorway almost tempted to just turn around and walk out. I doesn't look like the nurse is in anyways, I look around once more just to make sure. There are a few familiar faces but no one overly important.

"You two are acting like children! Gajeel act like a man and deal with a bit of pain!" the blond haired female in the room shouts to the two Dragon Slayers.

"You two should stop fighting, you might hurt each other even more," a light voice calls to the two snarling at each other. It's the young Dragon Slayer.

"Oh! I didn't see you standing there I'm sorry!" Wendy says apologetically, quickly grabbing my wrist before I could respond in anyway and leads me to a cot.

"I need to finish bandaging Rouge-san so you're going to have to wait a little bit, sorry," she looks down a little bit.

"Its fine don't worry about it, I can wait a bit," I tell the younger gently. She gently smiles gently and moves to the cot to my left where Rouge had apparently been sitting the entire time. I should really pay more attention lately.

"Wait, so is there no nurse today or something?" I ask the young girl.

"She ran off a while ago when Natsu-san and Gajeel-san started fighting," she sighs. Definitely a normal occurrence, then.

I hum for a moment pondering something as I look over to Natsu-san, "Why is Natsu-san helping then? I didn't take him for the nurse-type," I snicker as I hear him growl at my comment.

"Natsu-san has some experience with first-aide. He mentioned something about helping Mira-san in the infirmary a lot at the guild," the blue haired mage says as she wraps bandages around one of Rouge's arms.

"There. You're done, now get the hell outta here, you bastard."

"Whatever, don't tell me what to do Salamander," the long haired male snaps as he leaves his cot and makes his way to the door and slams it.

I just watch for a while as Gajeel walks out the door. Now, I really hope Natsu-san doesn't patch me up. Not because I like him, which I don't, But because it's probably really awkward. I don't really want him near me either, it makes me feel weird.

"Are you just gonna stare at me or are you going to take off your shirt?" Natsu-san asks me with his hands on his hips. He changed his shirt I notice.

Wait. Take off my shirt?

"What?" I ask dumbly.

A sigh, "So I can bandage you up."

Oh yeah of course, duh Sting! What was I even thinking, of course that's what he meant. Plus there's people around, even if I wanted to do something like that. Which I don't.

My face heats up at the thought, "Yeah, sorry," why did I just apologize.

I get a weird look from him and a tilt of the head. He shrugs after a while and turns to grab some medical supplies, and while he's turned I throw off the remainder of my shirt, which I didn't realize was that tattered until I noticed the very little amount of cloth laying on the floor. I glace to my left to see Rouge looking at my strangely. He looks confused. I am too, partner.

"Okay, it doesn't look like there's any serious bruising or swelling, which means you probably don't have anything broken. Cuts, burns, and minor bruising," Natsu-san lists more to himself then me.

I start to feel uncomfortable as he's just blatantly staring at my bare chest. Not like it should bother me, I hardly wear much for a shirt in the first place. I shift on the cot. Hurry up Natsu-san, geez! I knew this was going to be awkward. He made a move to start grabbing bandages and antiseptic, for the cuts and burn cream for the burns.

I just realized Natsu-san has to actually touch me to put the bandages on. No need to panic, no need to panic at all! It's no big deal, it's happened to me countless times.

While I'm having my silent nervous breakdown, Natsu-san is almost done. I keep zoning out, one of these times I'm going to miss something important.

Important, like how Natsu-sans hands are uncharacteristically soft. I would have assumed they would be rough from the training and fights.

I zoned out again.

Natsu-sans talking to me.

Dammit.

"-erious. Hey! Are you even paying attention? I swear you're as bad as Gray," he snaps at me.

"Sorry I was zoning out again."

"You should really get that checked out sometime."

"Yeah! Even Natsu-san pays more attention than you are!"

"Wendy! That's mean!" he whines to her, and she just giggles in return.

Lucy laughs, "She has a point Natsu, maybe you and Sting could go stare into space together!"

My ears warm at the comment. Me and Natsu-san alone togeth- Sting! Mind out of the gutter. I admire him, I do not like him like that at all!

"Sting-san your face is all red, do you have a fever?" Wendy asks innocently.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply.

"Spacing out again, huh?" the pink haired mage asks again, hands back at his hips. He looks kinda cute like that.

"Heh, yeah I guess so. I'm gonna head back and see if there's anything else going on," I make my way to the exit. Freedom at last!

I'm almost to the door, another few steps. My freedom has been delayed by a hand on my wrist. I turn around and look down slightly to the person holding me.

"You sure it's a good idea to go out there with your guild being so hostile?"

"Yes, Natsu-san, I'll be fine. I can handle myself against them," I hiss out at him and yank my wrist away from his strong grip. I open the door and leave, slamming it behind me, but not before I heard a sigh from the pink haired male.

I walked a few feet down the hallway only to lean against the cold brick.

Who am I kidding, I fell hard.


End file.
